Chapter 8
JACKSON
“People aren’t happy,” Pete tells me toward the end of the following day. Like I already don’t know that.
This morning, I massively disrupted the workflow on new content by telling my design team we’re reworking Emerald Cove as a roleplaying zone.
Now, the artists are scrambling for RP-friendly areas to insert within the existing level.
And my dungeon designers are struggling to fit the Cove creatures into their lineup.
“I know,” I tell him. “It’ll be more work. But it will be a better experience for the users.”
“The board will freak if the overtime gets out of hand.”
“Then they can fire me,” I snarl. “I went public because I had to. The servers were going to fail, and the company was going to burn. You remember that, Pete. When we thought it was all going to be for nothing. I did it for survival, not so we could bleed our customers dry.”
Pete looks at me like he’s shocked to hear these words coming out of my mouth. Once, this never would’ve surprised him. It was the sort of thing we used to say all the time, without thinking anything special about it. It was simply who we were, at our core. It was our identity.
“Fair enough,” he murmurs. “But remember, things are different now. Just be careful.”
“I will.”
I work late that night, hunkering down with the artists to get an idea of what the new Emerald Cove will be like. The dungeon team has an idea for creating a new dungeon underwater, out of the sight of the role players, with the creatures unable to reach the surface.
I’m buzzing as I drive home, desperate to tell Dakota what we’ve been working on. When I message her and she doesn’t respond, my gut tightens.
Half an hour passes, a full hour, almost two. In the end, I decide to go to bed. We didn’t plan to play together tonight. She has a life. Her streams, friends, family, and other plans. I can’t expect she’ll just be there, ready and waiting, whenever I need her.
But still, a thought burns through me.
Who the fuck is she with? Is it a plan?
I send her a message for the morning.
TheRealCreator: Tried hitting you up tonight. Would love to see your name pop up on text, maybe we should exchange numbers? Jack x
I switch off my computer and try to get some sleep.
The following lunchtime, I’m supposed to be reviewing the furniture pieces created by the art team. But Dakota’s stream is too distracting. She texted me early this morning, saying she was doing a special stream for viewers in other time zones, meaning she had to get an early night.
DakkyDuck: I hope you didn’t miss me too much.
TheRealCreator: I fell asleep in a puddle of tears. But other than that, I’m okay.
DakkyDuck: Meet at the Cove later instead?
TheRealCreator: Hell yes, beautiful.
Now, she’s doing an impression of a streamer she has a friendly rivalry with. This streamer is one of those e-girls who goes cross-eyed and makes childlike noises for the apparent enjoyment of her viewers. Dakota does it, then rolls her eyes, laughing.
“Remember, everybody, this is all in good fun. If I really had a problem with character quirks, I’d have to delete half my personality.”
I chuckle.
TheRealCreator: If you did that, I’d have to program you back into existence.
I watch for the moment she glances down. Sees my text. Her poker face gives little away, but I can see little flutters at the corners of her mouth and eyes. She swallows a little too hard. A flush rises on her cheeks.
She texts back a few minutes later during a loading screen.
DakkyDuck: You’re making it hard to concentrate. Aren’t you supposed to be working on our private place?
I smile, loving that she calls it that. A private place just for us. A hidden corner of the internet.
TheRealCreator: I would if you weren’t so distracting.
I watch as she skillfully navigates a dungeon. Her character is primarily a healer, which feels intuitively right to me. I had no clue how cold and zombie-like I was until just looking at her healed something inside of me. Now, she’s taking a leap as a damage dealer, completely owning it.
She squeals and jumps up when an enemy surprise attacks her. Her breasts bounce gorgeously in her top. I watch as the chat lights up, multiple people commenting on it.
You don’t own her, I warn myself. Or try to. You can’t control what they say.
But the fact remains. I want to make the men in her audience pay for looking at her like that. For thinking about her like that. I need to relax. Big time.
Later, thankfully, it’s just us again. I meet her in the Cove. When her elf appears, I let out a sigh of relief.
Her character walks over.
DakkyDuck: Sorry I’m late. Somebody recognized me from my stream at the diner down the street.
TheRealCreator: That’s amazing! You’re getting big, Dakota. What an incredible achievement.
She makes her character blush, then replies.
DakkyDuck: Thank you, Jack. Seriously. That hardly ever happens.
TheRealCreator: I hope the fan was polite.
I type the message, but don’t send it. I’m fishing. I want her to tell me whether it was a man or a woman. What he or she said. If it were a man, did he overstep the mark? Did he make comments about her figure?
I delete the message. For fuck’s sake. I don’t want to turn this from something fun into something ugly.
TheRealCreator: I’ve got something to show you. A fresh design.
DakkyDuck: Aren’t you going to make me sign an NDA first?
Her character giggles.
I grin tightly. Maybe it’s more of a teeth-clenching. Really, I should be making her sign one. This magnetic, beautiful stranger.
DakkyDuck: I’m not going to say anything. I promise.
TheRealCreator: I trust you.
I do trust her, which is crazy. It’s a sign of how convincing streamers can be. Or how much and how quickly I’ve lost my mind.
TheRealCreator: Follow me.
I lead her into a nearby cave. The inside is lit with fairy lights interwoven with seashells, and in the center of the cave, there’s a bed in the shape of an open clam, with a mattress in the middle.
Dakota guides her character over, then starts jumping up and down on the bed.
DakkyDuck: This is beautiful! The role players are going to love this.
I move to the edge of the bed. I wouldn’t have designed Empire’s Fall if I’d never had profound experiences in video games. But this is completely new. Wanting a woman, aching for her, when only her digital replacement is standing before me.
TheRealCreator: What about you? Do you love it?
She hops off the bed.
DakkyDuck: I’ve never been much of an RPer.
TheRealCreator: But if you were.
My body grows hot as I await her response, heart pounding in my ears.
DakkyDuck: I’d say I want you to tell me why you showed me this bed, in this private place, Jack.
My manhood stiffens. Precome even leaks hotly from my tip, sticking to my underwear. I can see her so clearly in my mind’s eye, sitting with one knee up, or adjusting something in the background, her back to the camera, a generous, delicious view of her ass on screen.
TheRealCreator: Because I wanted you the moment I laid eyes on you.
DakkyDuck: Wanted me—how?
I smirk.
TheRealCreator: I’m not going to lie to you, beautiful.
Physically. Obviously, physically. We’re getting to know each other.
You’re interesting, funny, passionate, kind, sarcastic, and talented, but I didn’t know any of that then.
I just knew—like I know now—I want you to myself.
Alone. So I can give you all the attention you deserve.
She moves her character closer.
DakkyDuck: What would that attention look like?
TheRealCreator: You need to tell me how specific you want me to get.
My hands are trembling as I type.
DakkyDuck: However specific you need to be to get hard for me.
Oh, fuck.
I lean back for a moment, my cock flooding with even more heat, my head swimming with tension begging to be released. My heart thuds fiercely against my pec muscle, my balls swelling with lust.
TheRealCreator: I don’t need to say anything for that. I’m hard for you now. Just thinking about you on stream, the way you chew your lip, the little twitches in your eyes and lips, those secret near smiles that seem designed just for me…
DakkyDuck: You’re the only one who notices them. So I think they MUST be for you.
TheRealCreator: I want you, Dakota. I can’t lie. I want you in the game and I want you in real life. I want you. Badly.
DakkyDuck: For what?
It’s like I can hear her moans behind the digital shield between us.
DakkyDuck: If you had me, what would you do? Oh, and I lied before. I said to be specific for you. But really, I want it for ME.